Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!

Chapter 2162 - 1565: Chief Divine’s Blessing! Charge With Me!

The observation before cooperation took a long time, but once faced with shared interests, reaching an agreement was quick, like wolves hunting together. On the second day after Ao Hala and Maha Agudah met at the Oobao, the River-side Tribe began their preparations for battle.One hundred and sixty warhorses started being fed large quantities of grass seeds and hay; from dawn till dusk, they were almost constantly eating. This was to strengthen the horsepower—whether for raids or pursuit, the faster and more enduring the warhorses, the better. To achieve that, the key factor was "feeding": only by stuffing the horses, putting flesh on their bones, could they be faster than the enemy’s mounts! And on the battlefield, even the slightest edge in speed and endurance often decided whether the other side escaped or was captured.

"Longevity Heaven above! Our River-side Tribe is no wealthy Great Tribe, the best horse feed we have is just these hard-won grass seeds. If it were those Great Tribes from the South, they’d have beans traded from the Han people... that’s the best feed for horses! One meal of that is worth a day’s grazing. When chasing the enemy, even if the other side runs their horses to death, they still can’t get away!..."

Ao Hala watched the busy camp; facing the slaughter to come, he didn’t seem all that calm. After a moment of silence, he looked at the composed Maha Agudah.

"Brother Aguda, you only asked for sixty horses, so that’s ninety riders? Ninety Cavalry in Iron Armor, wielding Iron Weapons for close combat?..."

"Mm. Ninety Cavalry is enough. As for the remaining Armored People, they’ll just stay in the camp and wait for news of our victory!"

Maha Agudah nodded, showing complete confidence, as if ninety Armored Cavalry were a force that could crush everything. The real reason he only asked for sixty horses, however, was that among the Kingdom’s two-hundred-man horse-buying party, only ninety Jurchen Cavalry could actually ride. As for the remaining Kingdom’s Warriors, Jurchen archer, and Shandan Archers, they could at best get on a horse to hurry along the road, then dismount to do Archery and fight as infantry. As for difficult tasks like mounted charges or mounted Archery, they simply couldn’t manage them yet.

But when fighting a nomadic tribe, the only key tactical point was speed! By the time the Cavalry charged in and finished their attack, the infantry and Archers behind might not even have reached the battlefield yet, so bringing them along wouldn’t mean much...

"...All right! Longevity Heaven bless us! Ninety Armored Cavalry really is enough..."

Hearing Ah Bo the Translator’s words, Ao Hala was silent for a few breaths, glanced at the confident Aguda, then continued.

"Brother Aguda, our River-side Tribe will go all out. One hundred and ten tribal archers, among them twenty-five Wulusi Warrior. The Forest Tribe has no village, only a camp fenced in by stakes. When the time comes, your Armored Cavalry will be in the center, charging straight into their camp. Once you catch their main body of tribal archers, ’hit them with all your might,’ try your best to scatter them. Our archery cavalry will come in from both wings, block off their escape routes, and keep as few enemies as possible from getting away. If they’re unprepared and haven’t fed their horses in advance, they won’t be able to outrun us. Mm, best to clash at daybreak, then ’chase for dear life’ before dark, we’ll definitely catch every fleeing bastard!..."

Maha Agudah listened intently to Ao Hala’s pre-war plan. With all the gesturing, he only caught two phrases: one was "hit them with all your might," the other was "chase for dear life."

"Anything else?"

"What else?"

"So in the coming battle, we just ’hit them with all our might’ and ’chase for dear life’?"

"Yes!!"

Ao Hala nodded firmly. A single word—"fast"—was the core of grassland tribes slaughter; there were no other fancy tricks. Two relatively small Cavalry forces clashing with each other was nothing like fighting infantry, where you could lure, encircle and shoot, split, or ambush; there was simply no use for complicated tactics. All the preparation was done before the battle; when the fighting started, you just "charge" and that was it.

"..."

Ah Gu thought for a while, carefully digesting how the grassland tribes fought, then nodded.

"Good! Chief Divine bless us! We’ll do it like that—charge shoulder to shoulder!..."

"Good! Heavenly Divine bless us!..."

The autumn sacrifice to Longevity Heaven lasted three days. On the first day, both sides settled their plan; the next two days were spent feeding the horses. At dawn on the fourth day, Ao Hala’s one hundred and ten tribal archers and Maha Agudah’s ninety Armored Cavalry merged into a single torrent and surged out of Huli Ping Village.

"Zu! You hold the village, I’ll go wipe out the Forest Tribe and bring back captives and livestock!"

Before parting, Maha Agudah slapped Zuwaro hard on the shoulder, glanced at Ao Hala not far away, and lowered his voice.

"Chief Divine bless us! This fellow probably hasn’t lied to me, nor about my strength... but just in case, once I’m gone, you must keep control of this village and guard their horses and sheep! It’s sixty Li to ride over, find their main force and kill them, then bring back captives and livestock... Mm, at most six or seven days. If we never come back... you slaughter the sheep in the village, kill all the Herdsman, and just hole up in the village for the winter!"

"This village is very strong. As long as there’s food, with over a hundred Armored Warriors defending, even five hundred Cavalry won’t be able to take it. The other side is all Cavalry; if they panic and try to flee, they definitely won’t make it, and they’ll find nothing to eat out in the wild in winter. It’s true the River-side Tribe has little stored grain; if you hold out for one winter, they’ll starve on their own. Even if they collude with that Forest Tribe, they can’t feed that many people; they definitely won’t last till next spring... If something really happens to me, all you have to do is hold out till spring, then lead the Warriors away. Head north into the forest, and you’ll have a good chance of surviving!..."